On training wiser now that he’s older: “Man, I’ve been doing
it a long time, and I’ll be honest with you: I was doing it wrong
for a lot of years, but my youth pushed me through it. As you get
older, your body’s going to tell you, ‘Hey, you need to figure out
another way to do this or you’re going to, I don’t know, be a
manager or something pretty quickly.’”

On whether he wakes some mornings knowing that he needs to take
a day off: “Oh yeah. I will [take it]. I’ll do that. I’ll get
in my truck and I’ll go fish. That’s what I’ll do. I’ll stand out
in a little river and just fish, catch some trout, relax, think
about nothing but just relaxing and catching fish. And then come
back on that following Monday and get right back after it and you
feel like a new person.”

On whether he’s thought about life after MMA: “I have to. I
don’t have a choice. I have to. There’s different avenues that I’m
dabbling in. There’s small investments I’m already making from some
of the bigger wins that I’ve had. I’ve taken that money and done
smart things with it, just being smart with the money that’s coming
to me now, just setting up a good life for myself and my wife and
potential family. I’m like fine wine, though, man. Thirty-seven,
don’t get me wrong: If you look at me, I look 27. I take care of
myself. I always have. I’m no closer to retiring than I was five
years ago.”

On how much homework he does on opponents: “I can’t sit and
critique a fighter’s last fights and this and that and the other
because, to be honest with you, what I do is I’ll watch my last
fight and I’ll see what I need to do better and I’ll look at how I
fight. I also think, ‘How would I beat me?’ ‘Oh, he’s dropping his
left every time he kicks.’ Probably for everyone else, they know
their weaknesses and they work on it, so I don’t really pay
attention a lot to all their detail. ‘He steps left whenever you
step right at him.’ That’s ridiculous. I need to train. ... And
yeah, you can basically, with a good coaching staff and with my
experience and everything, you can look at a guy and say, ‘OK, this
guy’s got a crazy right hand.’ ‘OK, this guy can wrestle.’ It’s not
rocket science.”

On what he saw after watching his most recent performance:
“I felt like I just needed to hit somebody more. I just need to let
it go because I know that if I do, I’ll either slow them down or
I’ll knock them out. I know that I have the grappling ability to
compete with the best in the UFC and I have the striking ability
also to compete with the best in the UFC. I know that and I just
need to let that go and shine. I’ve been in this game far too long
to hold back anything at this point.”